Journalist

Parochial church councils that fund chancel repairs without securing funds from a lay rector could be guilty of a breach of trust, with “serious consequences” for PCC members, Neville Rowles, a conveyancing solicitor with the Manchester-based law firm Boote Edgar Esterkin, has suggested.

He warns: “Members of the PCCs concerned could be open to a claim for reimbursement for the funding that they failed to secure from the lay rector. They could also face an inquiry by the Charity Commission, which could, in practice, lead to their removal from office.”